


What You Don't Know

by syriala



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Abduction, Angst, Hurt No Comfort, Hydra, Hydra Steve Rogers, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Not Captain America: The Winter Soldier Compliant, Torture, hydra!steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-22
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-05-15 14:51:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5789536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/syriala/pseuds/syriala
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hydra captured him, Tony could have never predicted the things he learned there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Don't Know

**Author's Note:**

> This work is based on fanart by the wonderful [stofu22](http://stofu22.tumblr.com/) and it might be a bit spoilery, but if you really want to know already, you can see it [here](http://stofu22.tumblr.com/post/131359114984/hydra-cap-stucky).
> 
> This is not Captain America: The Winter Soldier compliant. My headcanon for this is that Hydra has in fact more than one assassin. Hydra sent in the Winter Soldier for the attack on Fury on the street, but when they realized that Fury had hid in Steve's appartment, they used another assassin to finish the job. Steve never learned about Bucky, nor did the rest of the team, but the rest of the movie happened and the team is still all over the world, looking for Hydra bases.
> 
> Please heed the warnings. This is not a happy story.

They had been looking for remaining Hydra bases for the last seven months and so far they only had found two. There was the faint hope that Hydra had mostly operated from within Shield and that there weren’t even that many bases to begin with, but Tony feared that Hydra only got very good at hiding and that they were actually missing a lot of bases. 

The captured Hydra agents weren’t talking to them, instead busy swallowing cyanide capsules, and so the Avengers hadn’t gotten the intel from them they had expected. Tony had managed to get most of the files Natasha had put on the internet off the web, and there had been some useful intel in them, but after seven months they were done with those files and now needed some fresh leads. And that was going slow. 

So slow in fact that the team had decided to take a few days off and instead spend some time in the tower, doing whatever they wanted. Which didn’t really work out for Tony, because there was a lot of SI business to attend to, and so he was hopping from meeting room to meeting room and in between Pepper buried him in paper work. It was exhausting work but Tony was glad that he got a bit of a break from the team because the mood was tense. 

Clint and Natasha weren’t quite over the fact that Fury left and that their employer had been evil all this time, and Bruce was tired from always hulking out. Thor managed to make them always look on the bright side, even though there wasn’t that much to be optimistic about, but after some time that grated on their nerves. Steve was actually the worst, because he apparently took it very personally that his nemesis was still very successfully working on overtaking the world and had managed to deceive Peggy and Howard in the process. 

Tony felt personally victimized because Hydra had used his repulsor technology and somehow managed to evade Jarvis, who had been in the Shield server for nearly two years now. But now Jarvis knew what he was looking for and he had been an invaluable help to them. 

All that didn’t help Tony one bit when he felt a little sting on the side of his neck while he was out to get a coffee between two meetings. Pepper always complained that Tony went out to get his coffee, especially since he had a customized coffee maker in his office, but Tony liked to get some fresh air and move his legs and now he bitterly regretted it. 

He knew that the sting meant he was about to be abducted, but before he could alert Jarvis or the team, the floor came rushing up to meet him and he barely felt a hand on his upper arm before everything went black. 

When Tony woke up he was surprised that he wasn’t bound to a chair or something similar, because that was the most frequent thing when he was abducted. Instead he found himself in a small room, really not more than a cell, with no windows and only one door with a peephole. Tony suspected that it was used to look in and wouldn’t help him much in finding out where exactly he was. 

He carefully sat up but he wasn’t bound and there were no injuries that would seriously incapacitate him, apart from the lingering headache that came no doubt from the chemical they used on him, and that was really not how a kidnapping was supposed to go, as he knew from experience. 

Before Tony could bask in those small favours, the door opened and he stared down the barrel of a gun. Now that was more like it. Tony quickly raised his hands and tried to figure out if he knew the man holding the gun from anywhere, but he came up blank. 

“You will go where I tell you to and if you try something funny I will shoot you,” the man said and his tone indicated that he meant every word, but Tony wasn’t one to be intimidated so easily. “Right. You will shoot me. After you went through all this trouble to get me,” he scoffed and the agent whipped around and levelled the gun at his head. “Listen, Tony,” the agent drawled and Tony wanted to kill him just for that, “it’s true, we need you. But there are still two more human members to your team, so if you don’t shut the fuck up and do what I say, I will shoot you in the face and then we’ll get us someone else. That Hawkeye guy seems like a great choice. How would you like that?” Tony didn’t like that at all and so he hurried to nod his agreement and then he was already walking down a corridor, barrel pressed into his back. 

It looked like he was underground but that was all that stood out to him. There were a lot of doors right and left, but all of them looked the same, like the door from his cell, and they didn’t give him a hint to what was behind them. He counted seven on either side, before the man told him to enter the next one on the left and Tony did without commenting. 

He didn’t know who it was that had captured him, though he suspected it was Hammer or possibly even AIM. When he thought back to what the agent had said, that suddenly seemed unlikely, because those two would want him to invent something and that wouldn’t happen if he was dead. So it had to be someone else and the only other party that came to mind was Hydra. They would most likely want information about the team, anything that wouldn’t be in the Shield files, and for that they didn’t need Tony specifically. Anyone of the team would do really. It wasn’t a really comforting thought, but Tony tried not to jump to conclusions here. He didn’t know exactly why he was here yet and it wouldn’t do him any good if he started to panic.

When the agent shoved him into a room,he was met with a steel table with matching chairs, a camera and a very suspicious looking table which was covered with a cloth. Tony’s heart sped up when he saw that, because he watched enough movies to know that there were probably a lot of torture instruments on it. He tried to tell himself that it was possibly just for show but his pulse didn’t calm down.

The man behind him told him to sit down on the chair with its back to the door and Tony did even though his skin crawled at the prospect to bear his vulnerable back to the door. When he sat, the man chained his hands to the armrests with preinstalled chains and then left Tony alone. 

By the time someone else came in, Tony was sweating with anticipation since it felt like it had been quite some time. Tony recognized the man that took the chair opposite to his because he was one of the higher ups from Hydra they hadn’t managed to find. 

“Meier,” Tony greeted him, and wasn’t that the most German name ever, thankful that it was such a short name and didn’t allow for his voice to break. He had still hoped that Hammer or AIM were behind this kidnapping, or someone equally unqualified, but being captured by Hydra was pretty bad. The team had ruined a lot for them lately and Tony didn’t believe that this was a courtesy kidnapping. This promised pain.

“Mr. Stark,” Meier greeted him, seemingly friendly, but Tony had read the files, he knew what Hydra did with prisoners. Meier seemed to read that out of his tense shoulders because when he talked he cut right to the chase. 

“Let’s not pretend to be overly friendly here,” Meier said nonchalantly and Tony nodded his agreement. It was not like there would be tea and dessert for him. “You are going to tell me all I want to know about the Avengers and this whole experience will be mostly painless for you.” 

So, torture was indeed the way this would go. Tony kept silent when Meier eyed him up before he let out a sigh. 

“I see.” He got up and removed the cloth from the table and there were indeed a whole lot of instruments; some were obviously about to meet a new purpose but there were some that seems specifically constructed to bring a lot of pain.

Tony felt cold all over but he remained silent. He didn’t really feel like taunting Meier, not with him feeling up the hammer on the tray, and this wouldn’t go over smoothly, no matter what he did, but Tony knew that he had to hold out until his team would come to get him. And according to the files on previous prisoners this would hurt enough without him being a sassy asshole; and he really wanted to live so he decided to be as compliant as he could, without really hurting the Avengers. 

“This is how it will go, Mr. Stark,” Meier finally continued after he gave Tony enough time to eye all the various instruments and imagine what they could be used for. Some were so horrifyingly abstract that he didn’t even want to imagine their use. 

“I will ask you a question and you will answer it. If you don’t, I will use one of these on you. That also goes for answers I don’t like. If you answer instantly, and believably, you will get little things for your cell or treatment for injuries you no doubly will sustain. Understood?” 

Tony nodded and already tried to ready himself for the pain that would certainly come, and soon at that. He wasn’t about to give away team secrets or weak points of his friends and with the way Meier looked gleefully at him, he seemed to know that. Tony felt sick just because there were people like Meier who thoroughly enjoyed torture.

“Okay then. How do you catch Thor?” was the first question Meier asked him and thankfully that was an easy one, even though Tony knew that it was only meant to sweeten him up and make him lower his guard. 

“You don’t,” he answered truthfully, Thor was a lot like the Hulk in that regard, and Meier nodded, obviously expecting that. 

“How do you predict where he will arrive?” 

“You don’t,” Tony repeated. “He arrives when and where he wants, without so much as a warning. The only places he will not show up in are closed rooms. Did you see the pattern he leaves behind? He would be lynched.” 

It went on like that for a bit, easy questions, stuff everyone with eyes knew, but eventually they got to the important questions; the ones that Tony would not answer. 

How to knock out the Hulk; how to get to Bruce, Natasha and Clint; how to get Steve to sacrifice himself for the greater good. Those weren’t even particularly difficult things to do; everyone knew that the Hulk could not be knocked out, not really. And if someone even spend a little time following Bruce, Natasha and Clint they would realize that they each had their preferred restaurant and shops and it would be easy to get them there, just like they had got to Tony. And Steve, well Steve would sacrifice himself for the greater good any day, Hydra wouldn’t even need an elaborate plot for that. If they told him it was him or civilians, Steve wouldn’t even hesitate.

Still, Tony was not about to make Hydra’s job easier and so he stubbornly kept quiet. He lost count of the questions he wouldn’t answer, but the pain in his left hand attested to the fact that he refused to answer most of the time. 

Meier had started with the hammer to his fingers, and while Tony was quite scared that he would maybe lose his agility, he still refused to answer. It was a stupid move on Meier’s part, because once Tony’s hands were ruined there wasn’t much worse they could do to him. If Meier had thought that through, he could have used the threat to his hands as another motivator. 

Tony was aware that coming up with better torturing methods wasn’t a healthy thing to do, but it kept him busy enough between questions. He kept telling Meier inconsequential things, because Tony remembered that he had once read in an article about torture that you weren’t supposed to focus on things you meant to keep secret but on little things, stupid things; once the pain got to big, and it would eventually, you would say the most prominent thing on your mind and if you kept thinking ‘Don’t tell him this or that’ it would be most likely what was about to come out. 

So Tony kept concentrating on the way Bruce liked his tea, the shows Barton watched, how romantic Thor could be, that Natasha preferred loose clothes in their home and how Steve liked to read his newspaper on actual paper. 

The more he said, the less patience Meier seemed to have and when Tony was finally put back into his cell, he could barely move his left hand. Meier had explained to him, quite politely, that he would stick to the left for now, because Tony would need his right one to write the answers down, once they started on his face and Tony already dreaded that particular session. 

Meier made good on his promise on the third day, after they had become bored of playing with Tony’s already ruined hand, and after that Tony had to write his admittedly sassy answers. He was over the part where he thought non-sassiness would gain him anything and so he was back to his usual self, even though the pain made it hard to think sometimes. He was careful to once in a while mention or hint at something that would prove valuable to them, just so they had a reason to keep him alive, and so far he had managed that balancing act, without revealing something potentially hurtful.

He kept wondering where his team was, why they hadn’t found him yet, but he believed that they would come for him and only needed a little more time. It had been difficult for them to find Hydra before, so it was no surprise that it was still difficult for them, even though he hoped they had a good motivator now. But until his team came for him, Tony tried to endure everything Meier threw, sometimes quite literally, at him. 

He began to wear thin when he was brought back to Meier once again, maybe six or seven days after his capture. Tony was still able to walk on his own; so far they had spared his legs though Tony wasn’t sure why exactly. After that session on his face, they had reverted back to his left arm, which was a bloody mess and broken in several places, and they had found some strange fascination with Tony’s chest and back.

Tony was glad that the arc reactor wasn’t there anymore, that would have opened up a horrifying number of new methods to torture him, and thanks to the scarring his chest wasn’t even that sensitive, though he played it up a lot. If they thought their method was effective they would probably lie off of more important areas. Like his legs. He would need them when he escaped.

When he came into the room on that seventh day, he instantly noticed the red light on the camera that had been just for show so far, indicating that it was recording. Or transmitting. Meier noted his glance towards the camera and nodded approvingly. 

“That’s right, Mr. Stark. Smile for your audience. This is live, so I hope you will be on your best behaviour. I thought it would be time for your team to see exactly what they left you to.” 

So Meier had noticed the lack of saving as well. But this was actually Tony’s chance to help the team with some hints and he would do whatever he could. It wasn’t like they could bring him any more pain, at one point it all became one big ball of pain anyway, than they already did. So far they had not used any psychological methods and while Tony had blacked out from the pain more than once these past few days, he was glad for that. 

While pain would eventually break him down, he was under no illusion that he could hold out indefinitely, psychological torture would drive him mad. They hadn’t even used waterboarding yet and they were truly missing out on that front, because after Afghanistan Tony had never managed to get under the shower spray, or god forbid, into a tub. He was sure that he would break as soon as he saw someone with a cloth walk into his direction.

But, since that hadn’t happened, Tony had some hope that he could endure this until his team came to get him. If the camera was really transmitting directly to them, Jarvis should be able to follow the trace and then it would only be a matter of hours before this place would blow up.

Tony refused to linger on the doubt in his head, that maybe he wasn’t worth enough to them to be saved, but even if that was the case, they would come just because it was Hydra who had him.

Meier eventually started his usual questioning, but this time Tony gave as good as it got, despise the pain in his mouth and face, and Meier quickly lost his temper. He hurt Tony more frequently than he had the days before, but he also started to talk a lot more. 

When he started to brag about the assassin Hydra had sent after Captain America, Tony saw his chance. He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone on the team, but in the files he had found some traces that there was an assassin called the Winter Soldier and if Tony pieced the fragments together correctly, it was more than likely that it was Bucky Barnes. 

He hadn’t mentioned it to anyone yet, because he had no idea what Steve would do if he was wrong; he didn’t wanted to put him through that kind of disappointment, but if he could get it out of Meier that it was Bucky they held captive, the probability of Steve charging in this base to safe Tony, and Bucky, would explode. 

“So you mean to tell me that sending a secondary assassin to kill Cap was a smart move?” Tony asked Meier who looked at him questioningly. “I saw the files. Captain America was a high class target. Why not send the Winter Soldier? I know you have him here.” 

It was a shot in the dark, he had no way of knowing where exactly they kept him but Meier looked surprised for a brief second before he put the hammer in his hand to good use. Tony was afraid that this actually cost him his left pinkie finger but it seemed like he was on to something here and after he got his breath back he pressed on. 

“Too afraid that Cap would convert your Soldier?” 

“That’s not possible. We have him under control.” 

“Who, now? Steve or Bucky?” Tony realized the moment those words left his mouth that this wasn’t the smoothest attempt at getting information but he hurt a lot and he had no patience left for this charade. 

“How did you know?” Meier asked and with that he gave Tony all the confirmation he needed. 

“Steve, they have Bucky Barnes. They used him and brainwashed him but it’s still him,” Tony rushed out right before Meier ended the transmission. Tony allowed himself a small smug smile because this would make sure that Steve doubled his efforts to find this base. 

“Mr. Stark,” Meier said and he sounded genuinely upset. “I thought you would be cleverer than this. I didn’t want to employ this kind of punishment, I am not a big fan, but you leave me no choice. I doubt we’ll get anything useful out of you, and there are enough people who have waited for this a long time. I think I can finally allow them that before we kill you.” 

Tony froze, afraid that they would go on to the psychological part of this now, since there wasn’t anything, pain-wise, they could do to him that they hadn’t tried before but when the door opened and someone else came, in the possibilities exploded. Tony tried rigorously not to think about the fact that Meier just told him his usefulness and time was up, but it was hard, impending death hanging over him. 

“I will not be watching this, but I hope it is a lesson for you”, Meier said, right before he left the room. 

The goon who came into Tony’s sight, smiled at Tony right before he hit him hard in the head, adding to all the other pain and making Tony considerably dizzy. He faintly heard the clinking of the chains when they were undone and then he was thrown on the table, back hurting like a bitch when his lacerations made contact with the surface. 

The man put one hand on this throat, effectively strangling him, while he used his other to undo Tony’s pants. Okay, Tony had to admit that this was a new kind of horror he hadn’t even contemplated, but before the agent could actually start doing anything else than opening Tony’s buckle, Tony realized that he still had his thigh holster with the gun. 

With the way Tony was laying and how close the Hydra agent was standing it wasn’t that difficult for Tony to undo the clasp and level the gun at the man, right before he started to pull down his pants. The guy let go immediately and stepped back, hands raised, but Tony had some difficulties getting up. It took him some time, and more breath than he would have liked, but in the end he made it and he was treated to a trembling Hydra agent. It was a bit funny, because if the agent wanted to get the gun back, it was not like he had to use that much force. Tony was practically swaying on the spot, but the gun seemed to freeze him where he was.

“Where do you keep him?” Tony asked and the agent didn’t even have to ask who he meant. 

“Two doors to your left. He’s in cryo freeze.” 

It seemed like he was under the impression that he would survive this if he gave his answers readily, but Tony wasn’t in a generous mood. 

“How do I get him out?” he asked and the goon was yet again quick to answer. 

“There’s a big button. He will defrost in a few minutes and be fully functional.” 

That was all Tony needed to know and he didn’t even blink when he shot the agent. He knew that it was dangerous, someone probably heard the shot, but he had neither the time not the strength to kill the goon any other way.

When Tony opened the door, he was surprised to find that the hallway was empty and it was no problem to make it to the second door. True to the goon’s word, there was a tank and a big red button, could they possibly be any more obvious than this, and when Tony pushed it, some lights indicated that something was indeed happening. Tony hoped it was the defrosting the agent spoke of. 

A few minutes later, the tank opened and a man fell out, naked and immediately shivering, with shaggy hair and a confused look, but Tony recognized Barnes immediately. Tony quickly thought about giving Barnes his shirt, but he would need it to bandage his hand, which was still bleeding sluggishly, if he wanted to survive until his team came to the rescue. Barnes would have to stay naked, unfortunately. 

“Barnes?” he tentatively asked, because who knew what Hydra had done to him. Wild eyes found his, but there was no immediate malicious intent and Tony relaxed a bit. He knew that they didn’t have much time, but if Barnes wasn’t fighting him it would be a bit easier. 

“Don’t worry. Steve is on his way. He will come to get us,” Tony continued and Barnes visibly relaxed at those words. “Do you remember Steve?” he asked and was glad that it didn’t look like Barnes would get up and kill him immediately. 

“Please, Steve,” Barnes said, voice rough from apparent lack of use and Tony allowed himself a small smile. Maybe there hadn’t been so much brainwashing after all.

“Your friend Steve Rogers. You remember him?” he asked again and Barnes visibly brightened at the name. 

“Yes, Steve,” he repeated over and over again and Tony was really freaked out by that until it finally clicked for Tony. There was no way Barnes was asking for the actual Steve, he would have fought Hydra if he knew what was happening, but Tony had seen pictures of a young Alexander Pierce and the resemblance to Steve was uncanny. Hydra probably used that resemblance against Barnes. No wonder Barnes was asking for Steve. He was asking for his handler. 

Tony carefully crouched down, not letting go of the gun in case he needed it, who knew when Hydra realized he wasn’t in the interrogation room anymore, and soothingly talked to Barnes. He did not want to upset him. 

“Not Pierce. Do you remember Steve from your youth? He will come to get us, we will be safe, don’t worry.” 

Barnes didn’t respond to that and Tony stayed on the ground with him. He didn’t know how much time passed, but when he got up again, legs stiff from crouching down, he wondered why no Hydra agents had been looking for them. It seemed a bit careless but maybe Meier expected Tony’s new torture to go on for longer. He had talked about several guys after all.

Either way this was good for them, because Tony really wasn’t sure how long he would be able to stand and Barnes seemed in no condition to fight. Somehow Tony manoeuvred Barnes on the only chair in the room and then sat on the table behind it, gun ready in his hand. He wasn’t sure his reflexes would do them any good, but it felt better than nothing. 

When a low grumbling ran through the base, Tony knew that his team finally arrived. “Barnes, get up, Steve is here to get you. Don’t worry, it will be fine.” 

He kept his voice low, trying to calm Barnes who had started to shake more than ever and he repeated something that Tony couldn’t make out with all the grumbling that was going on. 

When Tony heard the door open he quickly raised the gun, ready for everything that came through it, even though his strength was quickly leaving him and the gun was shaking slightly, but he lowered it again when he recognized Steve. 

“Thank god you’re finally here. I found Barnes, but he seems confused,” Tony said and then stopped when Steve came calmly into the room and even took the time to shut the door behind him. 

“I can see that,” was all he said and Tony instantly knew that something was wrong. The tone of his voice raised goose bumps on his arms.

“The Captain! Captain, I was good, I promise,” Barnes eagerly said behind him and Tony turned his head to look at him, unbelieving of what he heard. 

“The Captain,” he repeated slowly and at that turned back to Steve, who seemed totally unfazed by the fact that he just found his long lost childhood friend. 

“What is going on here?” Tony asked and Steve smirked. 

“You know, I thought you were quicker to catch up. It took you an embarrassing long time to realize it.” Tony shook his head in a daze, not sure if he understood what exactly was going on here, not sure if he even wanted to know, but Steve didn’t gave him a chance. 

“When Hydra found him, after the train, they had a hard time getting him under control. He fought them every part of the way and in the end he cost them so many men, didn’t you, Bucky?”

Bucky nodded eagerly, seemingly desperate to please Steve, and Tony slid off the table to get some space between him and them. He still had the gun in his hand but Steve didn’t even seem concerned about that. He walked over to Bucky and tangled his hand in his hair while Bucky leaned into the touch.

“They had to find some way to make him submissive. That was when they found me in the ice, after your incompetent dad couldn’t, I might add. As it turned out I was a lot more suggestible to their methods and they quickly gave me a real purpose. Taming the Winter Soldier.”

Steve looked down at Bucky and Tony felt sick when he saw the devotion on Bucky’s face, as he looked up at Steve.

“It wasn’t difficult, I always knew him best after all, and when Bucky finally obeyed them as well they thought I was ready for some bigger missions. They froze me again, in the seventies, and then waited until ‘Shield’ finally found me. It took them embarrassingly long, and in the end Hydra had to hint them into the right direction but it was done, and Shield was overjoyed.” 

Steve turned around to look back at Tony. “Do you know how tiring it was to play the good Captain America when all I really wanted to do was smash your stupid faces in?” Steve continued and Tony had never heard him sound so emotionless. 

“This is not real,” Tony managed and he really couldn’t believe what was happening. 

Maybe he had a concussion or was in a coma or Hydra used some strange hallucinogens on him. Maybe they were using psychological torture after all. That was all more plausible than what he heard here, though the eager noise he heard coming from Bucky tried to prove him wrong. Steve’s hand was still tangled in Bucky’s hair and now Bucky was leaning into the contact, while Steve absentmindedly scratched his scalp. The gesture spoke of affection and it clashed horribly with the emotionless tone he spoke with.

“I don’t understand,” Tony managed and Steve laughed. 

“Of course you wouldn’t. You could never imagine that your AI wouldn’t notice. Or that you never noticed, right?” he asked Tony when he calmed down again and Tony shook his head. That wasn’t what he was stuck on.

“They had you. Why did they need to do this,” he said and raised his bloody hand.

Steve scoffed. “You think it’s known that Captain America is Hydra. It’s a strict need to know basis. And no one except the leader needs to know.”

“But Pierce is dead.”

“And Hydra already has a new leader, who was told all about me.”

“You could have just given them all the information they needed,” Tony said, and he was aware that this shouldn’t be the most important part, but his brain seemed kinda stuck on that.

“Oh Tony. They must have really messed with your head. There was no way I could have just told them sensitive, secret information about the team. They would have acted on it and then you would have realized that there were still some moles left. I couldn’t have that. I need my people where they are.”

“There are more,” Tony weakly asked and wavered on the spot.

“Of course they are more. We had seventy years to infiltrate everything. We did a thorough job of it.”

Steve sounded like he was speaking to a small child and Tony’s head spun from pure horror. The fact that Barnes was still leaning into Steve’s touch and looking up at him like a child would to their parents didn’t help any.

“The team got close to Hydra those past few months and it was time something was done about that. I gave them the hints when and where the hit would be, but we needed something bigger to throw you off. I volunteered you. I thought you’d break sooner, to be honest, but you surprised me.”

Tony wanted to say ‘Thank you’ but he quickly bit his lip. He would not be thanking this maniac.

“I thought this plan was ruined, if we rescued you and you could tell us that you didn’t talk, it would have been in vain, but you managed to make it worth it. Since you will die here, alone, and everyone else on this base probably as well, I can make the team believe that you talked while finally letting Hydra know how to take the others down.”

Steve removed his hand from Barnes’ head and stroke the edge of his shield.

“But you managed to reveal the identity of Bucky to the team and that will put a serious dent into my plan.” Steve’s voice had gone hard and Tony shivered. He wasn’t the only one affected by the change of tone because Barnes started to think into himself. 

“I’m sorry?” he asked Steve and grabbed his arm. “I didn’t know. Please, it wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know.”

He was seriously distressed and he only calmed down when Steve put his hand back into his hair. “I know. Shhh. It’s okay. You’ll just have to play a role for the next few months. You can do that, right?” Steve asked him, voice all gentle and soothing and Barnes nodded, nearly giving him whiplash with how eager he was.

Steve slowly turned back around to Tony, never removing his hand from Barnes and he shrugged. “I am really sorry that I have to kill you now, Tony, because you were by far the most entertaining one on this boring team of god damn heroes, but there is a plan. And it doesn’t involve you any longer.” 

Tony had barely time to process what Steve had said before he was hit in the head with the Shield. 

Tony fell down to the ground, in so much pain that he didn’t even fully registered it anymore; though he did notice how quickly he lost blood, thanks to the puddle that quickly formed around him. 

The last thing he really noticed before he died, was that Steve motioned for Bucky to look up, still naked and shivering, but now with some sprinkles of blood on his face, and Tony was already too dizzy to really comprehend the affection he saw on Steve’s face. Maybe it was good that Tony died now, because he couldn’t be the one to explain that to the team.

**Author's Note:**

> If you still want to, you can see [stofu22's](http://stofu22.tumblr.com/) beautiful artwork [here](http://stofu22.tumblr.com/post/131359114984/hydra-cap-stucky).
> 
> Feedback is always welcome and if I missed any warnings please feel free to point them out.
> 
> You can always find me at my [tumblr](http://bloody-bee-tea.tumblr.com/)


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